Last Sunday the 16 March saw the first in the series of the Mud Sweat and Gears mountain bike races at Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk. We had a good representation of the club with riders in the U12’s, Juvenile, Youth, Junior and Open Female, Open Male and Vets.
The sun shone down as we tackled and long and quite technical course, with lots of nasty deep ruts, some steep sharp descents with awkward tight turns over loose ground into gear crunching and muscle breaking ascents, leading into fun moguls and some fast downhill single track . We all had a good day, with many stories of spills and close calls, with tired muscles and mechanical failures to boot (Charlottes saddle coming loose on her second lap). The results are as follows:
- Under 12 Girls = Sapphire Curtis – a great 4th place, she put on a strong ride and just missed out on the podium.
- Juvenile Female and Youth Female (grouped together) = Holly Hoy – in a very strong 4th place overall, although I’m sure she was the 1st Juvenile Female, so a big well done to Holly for a very good ride. Charlotte Bamford – Had a tough day with a tumble or two and a loose saddle coming in 9th overall.
- Youth Female = Molly Williams – With a very strong ride, taking 1st place and being the second fastest lady of the day, well done to Molly.
- Open Female = Amanda Hollands (my girlfriend) – coming in a very respectable 7th.
- Open Male = Mike Hoy – coming in a very good 23rd. John Williams (Molly’s Dad) after a long absence doing a great 68th, and Mick Curtis in one of his first races coming in 89th, with 93 riders it was one of the largest fields they’ve had.
- Vets Male = Me (James Bamford) – coming in 45th out of 68, ok but a little disappointed, so I’m getting down to more training!
It was great to see St Ives CC so well represented, well done to everyone who competed, enjoy the photo’s. The next Mud Sweat Gears race in the series is on the 13th April near Saffron Walden, hope to see you there.
